Report: Baltimore Ravens sign John Harbaugh to contract extension

The Baltimore Ravens have signed head coach John Harbaugh to a three-year contract extension, per ESPN reporter Jamison Hensley. Harbaugh was set to enter the final year of his original deal, so the extension keeps him with the team through 2025.

Having coached the Ravens since 2008, Harbaugh is the third-longest tenured active NFL coach behind Bill Belichick and Mike Tomlin. He has compiled a 137-88 record in that span, leading Baltimore to nine playoff appearances and one Super Bowl in 2012 against the San Francisco 49ers who were coached by his brother, Jim, at the time. His regular season winning of .609 ranks the ninth-best among active coaches. He is just the third head coach in the history of the franchise, which was established in 1996.

Harbaugh got the Ravens off to an 8-3 start in the 2021 season, but the team struggled after star quarterback Lamar Jackson suffered an ankle injury to lose its final six games and miss the postseason. That was the longest losing streak in the Harbaugh era and just the second losing season under his watch. With Jackson having time to rehab this offseason and Harbaugh now locked up long term, Baltimore will aim to get back to the playoffs in 2022.

After leading the Ravens to a 14-2 finish in the 2019 regular season, Harbaugh was named the AP NFL Coach of the Year. Jackson won the MVP award that season after breaking the NFL single-season record for most rushing yards by a quarterback with 1,206.

Although no official number for the contract extension has been released, John Harbaugh is expected to remain among the highest-paid coaches in the league. That is a decision Ravens owner Steve Biscotti felt was necessary to make given Harbaugh’s long-term commitment to Baltimore.

“No interest in having him go lame duck on me here. It’s not fair to him,” Bisciotti said via the Baltimore Sun. “I think John’s grown and grown and grown. It’s kind of interesting. I don’t feel like I’m just signing up the same guy. I think that’s really a compliment to him. I really feel like there’s a rebirth in John as the years go on. Things that mattered to him don’t matter as much anymore. I’m just thrilled as an owner to have a guy that’s going to be going into his 15th year. So I’m pretty pleased with it.”